PIX has been available to game developers on the three generations of the Xbox console, and its appearance on Windows 10 is being seen as evidence that Microsoft wants Windows to be used more as a gaming platform. The news follows other gaming-relevant introductions such as DirectX 12, the Game Mode in Windows 10 Creators Update, and XBox Play Anywhere, which lets you buy a game on either the XBox or Windows and get the digital rights to play it on both platforms without paying more.

PIX is a utility that lets you analyze the way a game is working. You use it by taking a GPU capture. This gives a snapshot of data within your game. A PIX GPU capture records all the Direct3D 12 API calls made by the game, including their parameter data. The calls can then be replayed for debugging and analysis.

You can also take timing captures, which contain information about when work was carried out by the CPU and GPU. Timing captures are taken in realtime while the game is running.

PIX can also be used to take function summary captures that let you work out which functions are most expensive in terms of execution time. Callgraph Captures are another option that can be used to find the most expensive path through the graph for your specified function. The final capture type is a Memory captures which can be used to find leaks and unexpected allocation patterns in your title.

The overall idea is that you can see how different componentsare affecting the overall performance and what you can do to optimize them.

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